Original Article
When to diversify, and with whom? Choosing partners among out-group strangers in lowland Bolivia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.09.003Get rights and content
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Abstract

Evidence from the ethnographic and archaeological records reveals that humans often rely on out-group relationships for access to non-local resources and resource buffering. However, little is known about how actors choose out-group cooperative partners. The existing literature suggests that (in-group) partner choice is based on characteristics associated with greater cooperation (e.g., trustworthiness and productivity). Is out-group partner choice based on the same criteria as in-group? Because out-groups may be unique sources of resource access, we suggest that out-group partner choice should track characteristics of both the candidate partner and the partner's group that are associated with benefits for the actor. To assess partner choice, we employed a non-anonymous, one-shot economic game where participants could allocate money towards in-group and out-group strangers. Participants were from three populations of Bolivian horticulturalists (n = 200) that range in their market integration and their mobility, thus capturing variation in potential benefits to out-group cooperation. We find that individual-level qualities of prospective partners, such as wealth and trustworthiness, affect allocation behavior differently for in-group vs out-group prospective partners. While we find no consistent effects of perceived group qualities on a donor's giving to in-group and out-group members, the relevance of out-group market resource access for Tsimane' donors' allocations suggests that, at least when it comes to dividing a limited resource, qualities associated with a group can affect partner preference. Taken together, results provide insight into patterns of intergroup relationship building that have been crucial in the human lineage.

Keywords

Partner choice
Intergroup contact
Generosity
Strangers
Horticulturalists
Bolivia

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